Flood concerns scupper Breck’s Alsager hopes
Plans for 42 affordable homes off Close Lane have been ditched by a hefty majority verdict, with questions over outfall from the site at the heart of the matter.
The Breck Homes proposal was the largest item on the agenda at the meeting of Cheshire East Council’s southern planning committee yesterday.
The housing in and of itself may not be a contentious proposal, especially in light of a parlous CEC supply position that saw a raft of approvals handed down last week. The proposal was for four one-bed, 15 two-beds, 20 three-beds and three four-beds.
However, unresolved questions over drainage have put officers in a bind.
As set out in the committee report, the flood risk team (LLFA) visited the site in November with the applicant team.
In summary, the applicant’s intention is for proposed outfall to go to a surface water pipe which immediately discharges to an ordinary watercourse, but the LLFA does not believe this viable, as it would represent increased flood risk.
Another issue is lack of clarity over who is responsible for a critical pipe that would be used: the local authority or United Utilities.
As things stand, the LLFA view is that the only way the site can be drained is via the natural topographic pathway through White Moss Quarry, eventually discharging into Valley Brook, but this needs to be fully demonstrated to be a feasible outfall all the way up to Valley Brook in order for officers to be satisfied.
The site in general has a complicated planning history: there had been an approval in 2021 for 16 homes, but a further application for 55 homes on a wider plot was refused, then defeated at appeal in 2023, chiefly due to open space concerns.
Refusal had been the recommendation of officers, who said that although compliant in most areas, “the proposal has not demonstrated a feasible outfall option for site drainage and the proposed layout has insufficient SuDS provision”. Therefore, it conflicted with a number of policies at local and wider level.
The sire amounts to around 3.7 acres, made up of part of one house’s garden area and land to the rear. Persimmon Homes is building a 350-home development nearby, and approval for Breck would have helped Cheshire East get towards its five-year supply target.
Of the council’s internal consultees, only the flood risk team was an objector, while Alsager Parish Council also registered opposition on a number of grounds. Close to 80 individual objections were also registered.
Documents for the scheme can be found on CEC’s planning portal, reference 23/4788C.
